Open Doors
by ArtemisDestiny
Summary: What could have happened if Zane was never attacked and Danica wasn't stabbed. R&R Please!


Danica stood in the doorway to her room. It was the door that connected them and separated them. She just wasn't sure which one she wanted. She couldn't explain when it had happened, or even why, but she stood in the doorway staring as if it could hold all the answers she so desperately seemed to be seeking.

Danica had lived at the serpiente palace long enough to feel almost at home. She found the warmth and love of the serpiente to be a gift she did not deserve. She was home here in a way that she could not be at the keep.

"_Is Zane really so miserable?" she had asked Irene before she could think better. Danica had not made up her mind how she felt about Zane, but she did not want him unhappy…_

"_He is very happy that the Mistari suggestion seems to be working. But peace as wonderful as it is… peace does not keep anyone warm at night."_

_I knew coming into this arrangement that I was turning away from my own heart, I was choosing duty over what could be. I was willing to sacrifice anything. I just don't want Zane to suffer too. If he could be happy… _

"…_I suppose I mean love. Or if love is impossible, then friendship… I see the way that Zane looks at you when he thinks no one is watching…he cares about you. And that makes it harder, I think, whenever you pull away from him…" _

Irene's words had not been lost on Danica. In fact her words seemed to be the only thing on her mind lately. But it was too late, she had ruined everything. Stupid stupid stupid!

It had been a few nights earlier that she had finally let her guard down with Zane. But she couldn't erase years of fear and pain in only a few weeks. Did she fear him… not anymore. No she feared what he could mean to her? Alasdair give me strength, help me find courage.

_Knock knock knock. _There was not an immediate answer from Zane. Danica's heart pounded as she waited for him. _He will not come. I have hurt him too much. _Danica took a step back, and then another as tears filled her eyes.

She had turned around when she heard the door open, and there he stood. His garnet eyes met hers instantly; she stood frozen, but for once not from fear, from something far more frightening.

"Did you need something Danica?" Zane's voice seemed to shake as he tried to hold himself together. She felt the blood drain from her face. _I must make this right or live the rest of my life thinking of what could have been._

Danica did not say anything. She took three quick steps and stood all to close to him, she stared into the eyes of the man she once despised and now the eyes of the man that she loved.

On tip-toe she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers. Zane pulled away from her after only a few seconds. Danica realized immediately that he thought she was trying to force herself. He really did not see how she cared for him.

"Danica, I once told you that I would never be with a woman who fears me," he looked into her eyes and she all the pain she had been causing him. "Please do not try to force your-self. I do not…"

"Zane, please stop for a moment and let me speak," she said after taking a deep breath. "I will not lie and say that I do not fear you. I can't erase a lifetime of fear and pain in few weeks," he looked away from her then, and she felt her heart break for him. Ever so gently she reached her hand up and cupped his cheek. She forced Zane's eyes back hers as she closed the little space that was left between them.

"But I want to try. I don't want you to be sad. I don't want to hurt you. I don't know if you just want someone to share your bed. If I am another tryst or notch on your bed post, but I honestly care for you. Can't we start there," she implored some kind of response from him.

Zane looked at her with shock and anger. "You could never be a tryst to me. You are my mate. You are my light."

"I…I saw you and Adelina together the other day. I know that you lover her, and if she is who you want, I will not keep you from your true happiness. That is what I wanted to say. If you love Adelina then be with her…" tears slid down Danica's face again.

_Stop crying Danica. You need to be the strong one for him._ Danica's thought trapped her again as Zane tried to swallow what she had just said to him. "Adelina is someone that has always been important to me. We were friends long before lovers," Danica cringed at the word lover, "but I can not be with her now."

"Zane that is what I am trying to tell you, just be happy!" Danica almost screamed at him. She was breaking her own heart. There was no price to high to save him. Not anymore. And she knew then that impossibly she loved Zane Cobriana. She loved him foolishly, and deeply. It was so different than how she had cared for Vasili…or even Rei.

_This was passion. Fire, life, it was the air beneath her wings…_

Danica started to pull away from him. She wanted to go for a flight. She wanted to do anything that could soften the searing pain the coursed through her. Strong hands grabbed her abruptly and pulled her into a strong embrace. "I am happy with you," Zane whispered into her hair. For a long time he just held her. At first she stood there crying in his arms. Slowly her tiny arms encircled his waist and she pulled him close to her.

Zane leaned back from her and looked into her eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes that had somehow captured him. Before he could speak, Danica surprised him by uttering, "can I stay with you tonight?"

It was not a promise of unfaltering unwavering unending love. It was not a declaration of forever. It was a simple question that said everything and nothing at all…

Danica Shardae had started this day staring at a closed door, and she ended it with all doors opened to her. All she needed to do was choose which door to take.


End file.
